Newly released texts confirm Anthony Fauci and other ‘experts’ always knew mask mandates wouldn’t work
An opinion piece on Fox News's Outkick section argues that newly surfaced text messages add to earlier disclosures showing that senior US public health officials privately doubted the effectiveness of cloth face masks even while publicly promoting mask mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic. The article builds on previous releases of Anthony Fauci's private communications by Senator Rand Paul and vaccine-related messages released by Senator Ron Johnson, framing the new material as further evidence that officials misled the public.
The piece centres on an August 2021 text message from Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), sent to figures the article identifies as Jeff Zients, Vivek Murthy, Fauci and Rochelle Walensky. In it, Osterholm reportedly says he used text rather than email "to avoid any FOIA issues" and reiterates that he had consistently, since April 2020, described cloth face coverings as offering only "limited benefit" against aerosol transmission of the virus. The article, written from a strongly critical, opinion-based perspective, presents this as confirmation that officials knew masks "wouldn't work" while mandates were still being enforced.
- Article claims texts show officials doubted cloth masks' effectiveness
- Centres on 2021 message from epidemiologist Michael Osterholm
- Builds on earlier released Fauci and vaccine-related communications
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Public health officials in the United States, including Dr Anthony Fauci, promoted mask-wearing and mask mandates as a key tool for slowing the spread of Covid-19, particularly from 2020 onwards. Cloth face coverings, in particular, became a common and often mandatory measure in many settings, even though scientific understanding of how well they worked against an airborne virus was still developing and debated among experts at the time.
Over the past few years, congressional Republicans, including Senators Rand Paul and Ron Johnson, have used their oversight powers to obtain and release private emails and text messages sent by Fauci and other officials during the pandemic. These releases have become a recurring flashpoint in the wider political fight over how the pandemic response was handled, with critics arguing they reveal a gap between what officials said publicly and believed privately, while supporters of the officials say private caveats about a fast-changing situation are being taken out of context.
Michael Osterholm is a prominent American epidemiologist who leads a public health research centre in Minnesota and was not a government official but was closely consulted by the Biden administration. Rochelle Walensky headed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Vivek Murthy served as US Surgeon General during this period, meaning both had direct roles in shaping national mask guidance.